Home retailer eyes exits on 80-plus stores

By Alexander Soule

Updated 3:17 pm, Monday, June 26, 2017

Photo: Robert McLeroy / San Antonio Express-News

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On June 23, 2017, the CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond told investment analysts the company could close as many as 100 stores in five years depending on negotiations for leases coming up for renewal. Click ahead to see some other companies that are closing or have shuttered many locations. less

On June 23, 2017, the CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond told investment analysts the company could close as many as 100 stores in five years depending on negotiations for leases coming up for renewal.
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Photo: Robert McLeroy / San Antonio Express-News

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Click through this slideshow to see national retail stores that closed in 2017 and stores that may be next

American Apparel

Number of stores closed in 2017: 104

Click through this slideshow to see national retail stores that closed in 2017 and stores that may be next

The CEO of Bed Bath and Beyond is holding open the possibility of closing as many as 100 stores in the coming five years, pending the outcome of negotiations with landlords as leases come up for renewal.

CEO Steven Temares did not cite the locations of stores on the cusp of lease renewals, with Bed Bath & Beyond having southwestern Connecticut locations in Stamford, Norwalk, Danbury, Brookfield, Fairfield, Milford and Shelton. The Union, N.J.-based company also runs Christmas Tree Shops which has a Danbury store.

Bed Bath and Beyond is offsetting the closure of between 15 and 20 stores this year with 30 new openings, with Temares not indicating in a Friday conference call whether it will continue that pace of new openings in future years.

“Listen, we’ve been criticized for not closing stores — the problem is that all the stores are profitable,” Temares said. “But now we do have a lot of leases that are coming up for renewal, so ... that’s a clear opportunity for us to say, ‘OK, over the next five years what do we see happening?’... If we are not able to negotiate those kinds of renewals then we will close the stores.”

In its first fiscal quarter ending May 27, Bed Bath and Beyond reported a 39 percent drop in earnings from a year earlier to $72.3 million, along with a slight increase in sales which topped $2.7 billion.